Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Been checking in on my goals for the quarter, just to see how I am doing. A bit stalled in the past week, but ready to charge ahead: end of the school year is right around the corner.Back to working on quilts! Long-term projects that often have few landmarks. No stressing out over "finished" when the timeframe is so long.

1. Relaxing Robin

Ready to put the rays on the sun, piece a couple stars, and get that row attached to the top.

2. T-shirt quilt

Just back from the long-arm quilter. All it needs is a binding, and I've already auditioned fabric from my stash!

3. Drama quilt

Does this say "Wizard of Oz" to you?

Limiting myself to only working on/thinking about a couple blocks at a time (who needs stress this time of year?) Some paper-piecing and an applique mustache are first on the list.

4. Barnyard play quilt

I think I need a hand-sewing project, as I've found myself wanting to hole up in the sewing room when it was more appropriate for me to be quietly stitching out with the family. So, back to the Big Stitch quilting on this longer-term WIP.

Oh, wait... an infinity dress! Wow, that looks amazing. Wonder if I could whip one up for my trip to Europe this summer?

Mmm, scrap quilts! My blue scrap bin overfloweth. I've wanted to dig into it for some time now. And the blogger's quilt festival that is happening NOW has a category for scrap quilts. Maybe I'll just take a short break and check out some of the designs there...

I actually succumbed to pawing through my blue scraps for a tiny bit of time. How could I not? I was so enamored of the quilt with the flying geese! I just had to start making it: RIGHT. NOW.
Fortunately for me, it looks like my scraps fit better into a string quilt-making format. So I had to look again at a scrap quilt called String Theory, from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking.

Save Me!

All that process took me away from reality for about three days. Oh, my mind was reeling with the possibilities. I pulled out my wallet (twice) to buy pants patterns. I was a-sewin' and a-cuttin' and whatnot--all in my mind, thank goodness.

What saved me from the flights of fancy? Having a list of sewing goals for the quarter (which doesn't end until July 1st). I can add any of these crazy projects and ideas to my sewing ToDo... next quarter. For now, I'm full up.

For once, having a ToDo list has been a good thing. Reign in the wayward brain, says I.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Plugging away on my Relaxing Robin project. May's step is to reuse the inner border fabric in some way. So I am making a pieced sun; it will sit on the pink background.

Here was the sun when I last checked in:

And here's what is sitting on my table now:

Oh yeah, so much better. I envision using yellow thread to big-stitch quilt this (since when am I planning out my quilting step while I am still working on the piecing?!). Plus, the sun has a ray portion that will be a brighter yellow.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Finished off the April step for the Relaxing Robin quilt, and I must say that it is feeling LARGE.

56" wide by 68" tall (on temporary display in my classroom)

I think that means I only have one more border to add to the quilt! (Going off of a suggested 72x90 twin size.) My planned May step will only add a single row at the top, so I will have 3 more sides to tackle after that.

Received this full block-of-the-month pattern packet as a gift. Planning to make the patchwork sun block, with a pink background and blue plaid stars.

Cute pattern!

Wish I had more yellow flannel...

Process confession: I don't love the way it is looking so far. In fact, I rather dislike it. Too loud. Yuck. Is there a way I can rescue this?

I will ask my stitch-n-bitch friends for opinions. Sometimes it takes many hands to make a quilt.

"I have this idea for a way to combine these two/three/fourteen ideas into a project"

Most recent incarnation of a wild idea...

while running this race

No, I didn't stop running to take his picture; different worm here.

I saw a worm in a puddle

I thought about a children's story that featured a worm in a puddle (there's a scene in Ramona The Pest where she makes a worm into a ring for her finger; but that's not the scene that first came to mind)